Overcoming Deadly Psychological Traps in an Emergency Part 1: Denial
Most people automatically experience an initial feeling of shock, disbelief or denial as soon as an emergency strikes. One theory is that this is the brain’s way of helping us to minimize shock so that we can detach from the situation. However, denial can also delay or cloud the decision-making process that needs to start as soon as disaster strikes. Many have died because they made stupid choices in the seconds surrounding a crisis, and a lot of these choices stemmed from having a sense of denial that something bad was happening.
